Split Screen: Endgame

It might be his first Split Screen column of the year, but James "DexX" Dominguez today explores endings rather than beginnings.

DexX wonders why so many great games have such unsatisfying endings.

Most modern games developers are now committed to starting their games with a bang (rather than a dull tutorial) but many games still end with a whimper: something that is incongruous, ridiculous, dull, or cynically designed to legitimise a sequel.

James also gives a "spoiler" warning to readers of this terrific piece. "Although I have tried to avoid spoilers," he says, "this article discusses the endings of several video games in very general terms. Note that your opinion of what constitutes a spoiler may differ from mine."

Click below for the article, and let us know about some of the best and worst game endings you have played.

Endgame

Endings are hard.

This is the only logical conclusion I can come to, since so many otherwise good games have such disappointing endings. Looking back over the past few years, I find it difficult to think of any examples of games that I think ended very well, but it is easy to make a list of the let-downs.

The most recent example for me is the storyline of Borderlands. Without being too specific, I will note that: a climactic confrontation that had been brewing for half the game is snuffed out during a cinematic, without you getting the chance to fire off a single shot. The final battle seems to have been lifted from a totally different (and far inferior) game. The single event that the entire game has been leading up to never actually happens. It really is a very poor ending to an excellent game.

Even more frustrating for me, though, was that it gave me deja vu. Dead Space ended almost identically, with a long-awaited confrontation being averted unexpectedly during a cinematic, followed by a final boss fight with completely different mechanics and atmosphere from the game that preceded it. Though it received mixed reviews, I loved Dead Space, and the ending was a major disappointment (mitigated somewhat by an excellent final cinematic).

Another classic with a notorious clunker of an ending is BioShock, regarded by some as one of the finest examples of the video game medium, and perhaps that fabled "Citizen Kane of gaming" that some are looking for. Ask almost any BioShock fan, however, and you will hear the same things: "Moody atmosphere, brilliant art deco design, amazing story . . . but a pity about the ending."

Two factors made BioShock's final acts particularly bothersome. First, it has a "false ending", which is nothing short of jaw-dropping. It is simply one of the most incredible sequences in gaming history, in which design, story, interface, voice performance, and the very fundamentals of gaming are drawn together to make something shocking, tragic, and moving. Had the game ended there, few would have complained. Unfortunately, it keeps going, and the second ending - the real one - is not just poor, but it looks far worse in comparison to what we have already witnessed. Second, after the deeply flawed final boss fight finally comes to an end it is capped off by an unbearably cheesy final cinematic.

More recently, one of the 2009's most prominent and critically-acclaimed titles suffered from dodgy ending syndrome: the excellent Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. The villain ends up impervious to your weapons in the final fight, leading to a downright comical sequence where the player simply runs in circles for what feels like hours, waiting for opportunities to use the environment against the boss. Gone were the clever cover system, the outflanking manoeuvres, and everything else that had made the game work. They were thrown out and replaced with a game of schoolyard chasies.

Other games from the last couple of years that were widely regarded as good apart from their terrible endings include Fallout 3 and Prince of Persia.

All of these are good, well-made games. Of course we know that some developers run out of money and others have to rush to meet unrealistic deadlines. When time and money are tight, you want a good opening more than a good ending, especially since so many players never finish their games. But games like Uncharted 2 and BioShock are very polished and seem well-financed. Where do they go wrong?

I think the problem is that a genuinely good ending needs to balance a large number of factors:

Difficulty: A good ending will challenge you. If a finale is too easy, it will be anticlimactic, leaving a player saying, "Oh, was that it?" On the other hand, if you go too far you will make the final battle an exercise in controller-smashing frustration. This might either leave a player with a bitter final memory of the game, which might turn them off buying a sequel, or turn them off entirely, so they never finish the game at all.

Mechanics: The final boss fight - or whatever form the ending sequence of a game might take - works best when it mixes things up somewhat, without throwing out all the skills the player has learned through the game. Perhaps the villain will have a resistance to the player's most powerful attacks, forcing them to rely on lesser-used secondary weapons. In a cover-based game, the final boss might gradually destroy the cover, or move around the battlefield and force the player to scramble for a safe position. Too far either way on this scale is a mistake: mix it up too much and you have a sequence that feels out of place, but don't change it enough and it won't feel special, once again leading to the "Oh, was that it?" reaction.

Storyline: Most modern games have some kind of story, including a cast of characters in whom you invest a degree of emotion. Even if a game is not a poignant mix of A Tale of Two Cities and Heart of Darkness, most players will at least want the story to wrap up nicely. Whatever form the finale takes, it will always be more satisfying if you have a good reason to be doing it. Cop-out endings, such as the chief villain being splattered by a giant monster during a non-interactive cinematic sequence, leave the player feeling cheated. Of course, trying to cram in too much story might hinder the gameplay, so again there is a balance to be found.

Finally, just so this article isn't too negative, I should mention some games with what are, in my opinion, really good endings.

I think Grand Theft Auto IV ends well, though not everyone agrees. Playing in Niko's shoes, you are forced to make an important decision with serious consequences, and the climactic shootout that this leads to is very difficult (made worse by GTA IV's lack of in-mission checkpoints) but ultimately satisfying. Niko is the victor, but we are left to ponder if it makes up for what he has lost along the way.

Another is the gorgeous Japanese Zelda-with-a-wolf adventure Okami. The extremely long final fight begins with all of your collected powers taken away, forcing you to play through many rounds in which you wrest back your powers one at a time and use them to beat the next round. It forces the player to use literally every skill they have learned through the game, which I think is a very clever mechanic.

Finally, there is my old favourite: Thief: The Dark Project. The climactic battle is hard and a little frustrating, but the closing cinematic is just brilliant, tying up the final strands of story with a bitter monologue from Garrett, the eponymous thief.

How about you, Screen Play readers? Which endings stick out in your mind as stinkers? Did a bad ending ever completely spoil a game for you? Let us know in the comments below.

- James "DexX" Dominguez

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Recent comments

thy_dungeonman

February 05, 2010

07:49 AM

Fable 2 was possibly the worst ending I have played recently. Although it's only one of many things wrong with that game. It is simply unsatisfying beyond belief and proof that overcompensating for gamers who might find difficulty a barrier can ruin a good franchise.

I agree about the fallout 3 ending but with broken steel the next ending is much more satisfying because it actually has an evil option.

The best game ending I have played in a while was Hitman: Blood Money. I won't spoil it but it really had some tesnion drama and surprise whilst resolving the story and setting up a sequel.

Speaking of endings this eBay auction is ending I better bid on it.

death to nerds

February 05, 2010

07:55 AM

Games are about the journey, not the destination imo

I had no problems with the third act of Bioshock, what's wrong with a bit of revenge? Works for me.

Okami had an ending? I had to introduce my own; the trade in pile, as went on and on and on and on... zzzzzzz

My best ending would be KotOR, the whole assault on Star Forge, plus you are a tooled up Jedi/Sith. What's not to dig? Pity the last fight is a bit bleh. But Malak goes down, there's that revenge motif again.

Worst is easy; Halo CE, all of a sudden it's a racing game under a timed limit? W. T. F?

Can't really thinking of any bad endings. Perhaps I just haven't thought that much about it, though I didn't like Fallout 3s ending.

singo the dingo

February 05, 2010

08:39 AM

Sorry DexX, a quick scan revealed 3 games that I'm either playing or planning to play so I'll have to come back another time. (I like the Anakin picture though)

553554 Sequential Damage

barrymoves

February 05, 2010

09:00 AM

The ending of Bold Errands is particular average. It didn't undo a whole game worth of awesome though, it just sucks a little that the developers though that it would be cool.

Given the randomness of weapon generation I think the developers over estimated the value of having unlimited money, in that they envisaged that the very best kit could be bought and could essentially ruin a second playthough. The reality is that this is not really the case. My PT2.5 Hunter has well north of $250 million (and here's hoping that the next patch adds a digit or three on the money counter) and I still don't have the best kit (of the kit that I want in any case), and besides the best it doesn't appear until PT2.5 so it doesn't matter.

As an aside I am going to be very interested in what happens to PT2.5 once General Knoxx is released - will it going on a hiatus until I level up to the new cap?

ArghZombies

February 05, 2010

09:10 AM

Excellent article which i couldn't read 2 paragraphs of (BioShock is waiting at home for me to complete it).
I agree totally that some of the best endings (and boss battles) throw you off balance but still use the skills you have used throughout the game. I think an excellent example of this is the metal gear series. To my memory, the final boss battles aren't too gimmicky and still use the skills you have learnt throughout the game (the exception to this is MGS4 which,

*SPOILER*drops you into a CQC fight with the boss - which was very challenging & off-balancing, combine that with the walk down the hall just prior,
*ENDSPOILER* makes for a great ending sequence, Kojima-madness aside, IMO.)

JackB

February 05, 2010

09:17 AM

GTAIV's ending was very satisfying – the final mission was the usual mix of gunplay and vehicle mayhem, but it wrapped up all the loose ends nicely. In fact, GTA IV's last few missions (each playing a little different depending on your choices) are tightly woven together to ensure the ending is satisfying.

I thought Bioshock's final boss fight was fun, but I was underwhelmed with the preceding two levels – the two immediately after the brilliant twist in the story.

xavier

February 05, 2010

09:25 AM

The end cut sequence of Assassins Creed 2 wasn't all that great & I would have turned the console off if I hadn't been told NOT to do that or you miss the final stupid gamerscore thingy. Why go all wierd at the end like that???

Oh, and screenies, is there anywhere you can get a bumper sticker with the R18+ Grow Up Australia on it?? Thanks

ArghZombies

February 05, 2010

09:33 AM

On a slightly different game style; the multiple & interactive (and sometimes containing minigames) endings of the Soul Edge/Calibur series were awesome. For a fighting game, where you typically finish the game dozens of times, its good to get something new out of it each time.
The glaring exception is SC4 which had some of the worst endings as well as no multiple paths, no interaction. I hate you SC4, you broke my heart!

I think it might've been DeXx that mentioned this in another article, but defeating Desann in Jedi Outcast was an immensely satisfying ending. Very challenging!

Thom

February 05, 2010

09:38 AM

Whilst I liked the ending overall, I wasn't a big fan of Okami's final boss. Like you said, the fight itself was well constructed, but the boss was just a sphere, and had very little to do with the actual game. I should have fought another dragon or something.

As for Borderlands, I didn't really mind the ending that much. Fir whatever reason, I didn't feel the "build-up" to the confrontation I think your referring to (that off-world chick). So when she bit the dust in a cinematic I was kind of like pfft.

What I didn't like was that critical audio was drowned out by the boss itself. I had to look up the ending on wikipedia. Poor form.

ArghZombies

February 05, 2010

09:55 AM

@Thom
I agree - i did not care much about whatsherface nor did i feel the build up so much - i was in more of an exploratory mood than chasing the storyline.

DexX

February 05, 2010

10:00 AM

Argh, I don't think that was me, but I agree. The climactic Jedi-on-Sith battles at the end of Jedi Knight and Jedi Outcast were both quite well done. They forced you to use a variety of Force powers to win. Both were seriously difficult, from memory (it's been a long time!) but not unreasonably so.

Grim

February 05, 2010

10:07 AM

Demon's Souls is another game with a lame ending in both difficulty and story-wise. While I don't mind so much about the story - as during the rest of game it's basically absent - the final boss is pretty much a limp fish and zero threat. Disappointing from one of the most challenging games recently.

Infinitum

February 05, 2010

10:13 AM

I'd written a draft Your Turn on anti-climaxes, using Assassin's Creed 2 as an example, so i've got a bit to say on this (Warning: wall of text). I'll cut it down and post in two parts.

The biggest problem seems to be cramming in an 'epic' boss fight that just doesn't fit in the context of the game. The contrast in the way in which Bioshock deals with each of the two main antagonists is a great example.

[AC2 SPOILERS]

I really hated the final Assassin's Creed 2 final 'boss' fight or rather, fights.

The first problem is that Ezio fights AC2's main antagonist, Rodrigo Borgia, four times. Why drag this out across so many encounters? In terms of simply escalating the tension, there is a limit on how many times you can do this before you ruin it.

The second problem is that Borgia isn't even a warrior - he's basically a politician - and isn't boss fight material.

When I had depleted Borgia's health bar for the third time and again watched him flee unharmed, I stopped caring. The supposed climax had been reduced to meaningless health bar depletion, rinsed and repeated.

The icing on the cake is that after all the pointless swordfights, the most effective means of finally bringing Borgia to his knees in the final battle was to grab him, push him into a wall and then kick him repeatedly in the balls.

Fantastic article DexX; I'm naturally tempted to disagree with Prince of Persia if we're talking about the 2008 iteration and excluding Epilogue, but I do appreciate that many found it unsatisfying.

As much as I probably wouldn't play it again nor any sequels if they follow the same format (which is highly likely), I actually really enjoyed the endgame for Twilight Princess. Yes, it was an absolutely hard-slog to get there, not in terms of difficulty but just in terms of holding interest. Nevertheless, once the final movement gets well and truly in motion there are three long and epic gameplay challenges that just look brilliant. I'd love to say look and play brilliantly but it wouldn't really be true, as some of the mechanics felt unnecessarily but predictably cheap, with the drawbacks of the motion-control rearing their ugly heads at the same time.

Going all the way back years ago, Myst's ending was particularly non-existent, but in retrospect I guess you get that in a game with almost no gameplay! I was still so delighted with how clever all the logic-puzzles were and was just flattened by the ending.

To some degree though I tend to agree with dtn, but I don't think anyone here is unnecessarily hating on games for bad endings - I think we still all enjoy the bulk of the experience, it's just that endings don't have to be bad and really, they shouldn't be.

Very good analysis of the elements too DexX, nice one.

Mr Ak

February 05, 2010

10:42 AM

Oh, I forget which game it was, but I read something challenging the whole "hard ending" thing, recently. The idea was that an ending should be more a celebration of your in-game empowerment than a further spike on the difficulty. Obviously wouldn't work for every game, but it's not a bad idea.

All I can think of is the original Super Mario Bros. on the NES when your princess was FINALLY not in another castle...

Alex

February 05, 2010

11:35 AM

Wow...I was searching for the top 10 boss fights yesterday and now this article pops up..bit of polarity there.

Bad endings/boss fights:

FF9: end boss makes no sense, but then the story kind of trails off at the end.

Assasins Creed 1: Terrible ending and terrible last boss. And who knew to press the eagle vision button? I didnt.

FFX-2: Vegnagun? please. But then you'd have to be pretty hardcore to get through the game itself. Songstress anyone?

smallfrogge

February 05, 2010

12:00 PM

NWN2 and its horrible, horrible closing cinematic with a voice-over done by the work experience kid who, if there's any justice in this universe, will never utter another word until he dies. Did you simply run out of money, Bioware? Couldn't you at least have recorded some chimpanzees at the nearest zoo and played that instead? Deeply scarred the game experience for me.

I also found the ending to Wii Sports poor, particularly the final tennis battle for the versus the giant tentacle slime monster. It just seemed so strangely out of context.

Blenny

February 05, 2010

12:34 PM

I agree with Mr Ak that an easy ending can be a lot more satisfying, so long as it's fun.

Regarding some of the other games mentioned:

[Jedi Outcast]

Funnily enough I remember the battle against Desann just being really cheap with him spamming force lightening constantly. Possibly just reflects my preference for epic sabre duels over force-power battles.

[AC2 spoilers]

I didn't mind the final battle with Borgia, but then I really enjoyed the fist fighting in AC2. Besides, how many games let you go to Rome to beat up the freakin' Pope?! My only issue was I had to stand around a wait for him to finish yakking before I pummelled him into submission, otherwise he would only have gotten through a third of his speech. Poorly designed I thought.

Story wise it did seem silly that Ezio let him live (possibly "historical accurracy" was the limiting factor), and after that the story did start to get a little too "out there" for my liking.

Blenny

February 05, 2010

12:35 PM

[GTA IV spoilers]

The "revenge" ending for GTA IV really frustrated me. I liked the fact they went with a tragic ending, but the execution bugged me. They let you choose a path to take, but then take away your ability to control what happens next. So Niko screws over a desperate mob boss who's already demonstrated a willingness to kill for revenge, and then Niko decides that gathering every single person close to him in a very public and exposed place is a good idea. Yes, that should end well... Basically the ending was only tragic because Niko acted like a moron.

It was all part of this illusion of choice they seemed to try to create in GTA IV, but were never willing to commit to, which really annoyed me all through that game.

[Batman: AA spoilers]

Am I the only one that found the ending to Arkham Asylum thoroughly anti-climactic? For me it was the weakest part of the game. Gameplay-wise the final boss battle was uninspired (a common problem with the game's bosses), and didn't really do the Joker's character justice. But more importantly, story-wise it just fizzled. All the build-up, all the Joker's supposedly intricate planning, and what was the end result? He was sitting in a room with a few thugs wait for Batman. THAT's IT???

I will say that cut scene after defeating the boss was almost entertaining enough to make up for it. I will be quite diappointed if you can't use that move in Batman: AA2. :)

death to nerds

February 05, 2010

12:51 PM

Thanks for the link Mr Ak - a good read!

TC

February 05, 2010

01:00 PM

You didn't like the Liberty Prime sequence in Fallout 3? I thought it was great, and even got stomped on by him at one point. What came after that was like reading the last part of a book after the climax - sure it was crap but it had to end somehow after such a cool battle.

Slightly unrelated, but the best ending I've seen in years was for Dexter Season 4. Now THAT came out of left field and reminded me why I love the show!

TC

February 05, 2010

01:11 PM

@Alex:
Assasins Creed 1 - "press the eagle vision button"?? What the? What did the eagle button do at that point? (which I didn't use EVER, except for at the top of towers)

I just killed the guards and then the other guy, although it took me a few tries. And it really was a crap final battle after learning to fight / run / hide all the way through the game.

Dave

February 05, 2010

01:15 PM

The first thing that springs to mind when I think of good endings is HL-2: Episode 2. I'm mainly talking about the final battle though. That part was really intense.

About its actual ending, I wouldn't mind there being a cliffhanger (since it's an 'episodic' game and all) if episode 3 was actually released soon after. Sigh.

Fun fact: Telltale have released 4 entire series of episodic games (so far) in the time it has taken for Valve to put out HL-2:Episode 3.

@Mr Ak - That alternate Bioshock ending is awesome. The real final boss seemed a bit incongruent and was definitly a "...is that it?" moment. Same thing with System Shock 2's final boss; even on the hardest difficulty it only took about 30 seconds to defeat :(

Thinking about it now, I really would like to see more games with final sequences instead of final boss battles ie. where you have to pull of off an extremely hard final task rather than specifically trying to take down one big powerful enemy.

luverly_5pam

February 05, 2010

01:24 PM

@ TC

OMG Yes on the Dexter call! Season 4 was easily the best season yet.

Lobo

February 05, 2010

01:41 PM

I'd like to give mention to InFamous here - the story (and storytelling) in a game is important to my gaming enjoyment, so throughout the game I kept thinking that 'Ok, this doesn't make much sense but I'll keep at it' and so I finally finish off the final boss and watch the cinematic.

And was completely taken by surprise! 'Whoa... Now it ALL MAKES SENSE!' To me, it was quite original as well as unexpected. Can't wait for the sequel hehe

Ronny

February 05, 2010

01:41 PM

Half-Life's final world and attendant conclusion is (allegedly) legendary in its suckfulness.

The difficulty of the end boss in Torchlight is disproportionate (and there's no real followup afterwards). In the end I had to abandon my class's core tactics and sit on its toes to whale on him/it. No strategy to speak of, just click-click-click.

An old game called Millenium 2.2 on the Amiga was disappointing, and not atypical for games of its day. When you actually recolonise the Earth, all you get is a static still picture with scrolling credits.

Generally though, I start a lot more games than I finish. I think I have all the Final Fantasy games (except VI), and have not seen a conclusion for any of them. But then, most of the games I play takes ages to finish...

Mr Ak

February 05, 2010

02:09 PM

Ah, Xen. The Point Prometheus of its day.

HL2 E2 is an interesting one - I too loved the final battle, but I've read somewhere how it's actually an example of excellent developer cheating. The enemy will always get close to the base, regardless of how well you fight. Which I agree is a good thing.

stubbo

February 05, 2010

02:16 PM

Best game ending recently, House of the Dead Overkill, if you have finished the final fight, you know what I mean... Sick, Funny and very twisted at the same time. One of the only times a game has finished and the final sequence left my speachless....
Yep, Dexter S4 was amazing, John Lithgo is an absolute psychopath, from the first episode in the bathtub to the last... God of War 1+2 and Bioshock are the two most recent games I have finished (working through Uncharted now) and Bioshock was a bit Meh, God of War was ok, but I find that if the story is bad, I wont finish the game anyway

Nicolai

February 05, 2010

02:17 PM

@Grim

I think if you consider the Old God the Final Boss of Demon's Souls, it really does lose something. I consider the False King as the cause of the mess to be the final boss and he was a seriously challenging fight, especially with the level drains. I see the Old God as an Epilogue allowed by the defeat of everything propping him up.

Infinitum

February 05, 2010

02:20 PM

OK, following my earlier post here is my attempt at a better ending for AC2.

Ubisoft proclaim that Assassin's Creed's characters are based on real historical figures. It adds flavour to the conspiracy theories. Rodrigo Borgia did exist, and became Pope Alexander VI during the AC2 timeframe. He was reputedly a nasty piece of work, and most interestingly he died from an unconfirmed disease or poison. Even better, Borgia reportedly had a special chalice with a hidden compartment from which poison could be released into an unsuspecting victim's wine.

I would have Ezio forcing Borgia to drink from his own poisoned chalice - an interesting and far more appropriate conclusion. Rather than a punch-on in the Sistine Chapel, I see Ezio climbing up into Borgia's private apartments, cornering Borgia and, following the mandatory melodramatic evil villain speech and a short fight in which Borgia attempts to keep Ezio at bay, Ezio subdues Borgia and forces him to poison himself.

The original Assassin's Creed has that great revelation at the end when the player can use Desmond's newly acquired eagle vision to discover Subject 16's writings. The discovery of the vault should be that moment in AC2. The player should be able to proceed to the empty Sistine Chapel and figure out how to open the vault. Rather than being led by the nose, the player should be given the small satisfaction of discovering it for themselves.

Smoolander

February 05, 2010

03:18 PM

An ending I really liked is that of Force Unleashed. Battling the Emperor actually felt like fighting a Sith Master (although slightly cheap once you worked out the patterns).

As for the Borderlands ending, the adversary that dies in a cut scene never really felt like an adversary to me. I always felt like the main item to do was to open the vault.

Another ending I thought was superb was the ending to Final Fantasy 7. Great boss fight, and followed up by a rather nice cinematic.

I agree with dtn that the journey is best thing about the games, but a crappy ending can really lower your opinion of the game after it. God of War had a good boss fight at the end as well.

singo the dingo

February 05, 2010

03:19 PM

My favourite thing about the end of House of the Dead: Overkill was the feminist analysis that the heroes themselves gave it in the final cutscene. It showed me that there were some very clever people working on this game.

Angry_Los_Ganados

February 05, 2010

03:19 PM

Uncharted 2 was a great game but the ending was pretty lame.

Assasins Creed 2 was also a great game but it had one of the worst endings ever *spoiler alert* a punch on with the pope lol.

Angry_Los_Ganados

February 05, 2010

03:29 PM

@ Lobo

I agree Infamous had one of the best endings ever and the boss fight was pretty cool too. Am looking forward to the second one.

Kriegaffe

February 05, 2010

06:42 PM

Super Metroid. Greatest. Ending. Ever.

Tbang

February 06, 2010

02:55 PM

Ok gonna sound a lil bit girly but i still think hands down FFX had the best ending... I even cried a lil...

Worst ending: Halo2... So bad im kinda glad my xbox RRoD on me so i will never buy that title again.

@ Cannon

Haven't laughed that much in such a long time man. Cheers. Epic ending

Haggis McHaggis

February 08, 2010

10:34 AM

@smallfrogge NWN2 was done by Obsidian, not Bioware, which brings me to my real clunker ending:

KotOR2. Going along, doing the missions, all of a sudden you're back on Telos, the characters seem to have taken a significant right (or left) turn in how they relate to you, and bits are just missing. **SPOILER ALERT** Malachor V resonates within you, and by doing the same thing to it again, you do what exactly? What happened to the rest of my NPCs? How did the Ebon Hawk suddenly get panel-beaten back into shape in order to rescue you?

WadeMcG

February 08, 2010

09:42 PM

Can we include games that foist a cliffhanger ending on us? Examples:
* Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver.
* Golden Sun.

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